Fabulous and Funky Fifties Fighters

[manxcafe]

Love the "Cold War Warriors" the SkyHawk went on to distinguished serviced for many years after the other types were phased out. Great but challenging planes to fly. Thank you.

[PayasYouListen]

Simple, elegantly engineered and effective. That's why the Skyhawk was such a success, including Vietnam, Israel and the Falklands (they gave our boys hell).

The others were a little bit ahead of their time, but each played an important role in developing US Navy fighters too.

[megashegem]

Too bad the Demon,Cuttless and Skyray were under powerd. It would have been an interesting competition.

[TopGun8993]

A-4's forever!!! I worked on the A-4 E,F &M and T/A-4J at Top Gun, NAS Miramar from 89-93. I was a Plane Capt. and Aviation Structural Mech. I miss the old A-4. It served our country heavily in Vietnam and later in aggressor squadrons and at Top Gun. It also served as the Blue Angels from 1974(I think) until 1986. @koivis87, I wasn't in power- plants, but I believe the Skyhawk had a Pratt & Whitney J-52 engine.

[collectorfun]

The Skyhawks survives all others "things" and continue to flying in many air forces, what a Fighter!.....56 years in service!

[RippedWookie]

Umm... so which one is supposed to be fabulous?

[Craigers22763]

I love these old jets! Too bad they had such short service lives ( with the exception of the A-4) Once the F-8 Crusader and then the F-4 phantom entered service, they all quickly disappeared. The Demon, Cutlass and Skyray were all underpowered and by the time they were upgraded it was already too late.

[VMATT500C]

COOL

[koivis87]

Nice video! Yep, the USN had an interesting hodge-podge of planes in the 1950s. And the 4 planes featured here also had all different engines: Allison J71 (F3H), Westinghouse J46 (F7U), P&W J57 (F4D) and Wright J65 (F4D)! Must have been a maintenance nightmare...

[nick48823]

Thanks for the post. I love these old planes--they have so much character.

I think the Demon is a cool plane---all it needed was a J79!

[Greenhornet270]

GREAT Posts...keep them coming

Retired USAF

[wanker64]

they show an F7U at the beginning.. yet when testing is done and the aircraft are leaving, the Cutlass is mysteriously absent. Ya think it's downstairs with a busted nose gear? or perhaps the Captain ordered it off his ship?

[chainlightning58]

The F7U was such an ugly, crappy airplane. If there was a flight simulator that wasn't an addon where I could fly the F7U in combat, I would always fly it to mess with people.

[ccblack1]

At 5:30 ... check it out. Is he going to make it ? What an ungainly aircraft the F3H Demon was. Just watching all this action in this film you can tell each of these pilots are highly qualified test pilots. Once a Cutlass or a Demon got into the hands of a low time pilot ... I bet it was a different story.

[nocalsteve]

Could anyone have imagined then that the A-4 Skyhawk would still be in service and flying with the Blue Angels over 30 years later? Not to mention, serving as an adversarial fighter at Top Gun. The A-4 put all of those other aircraft to shame.

[dimitri02]

haha yeah. at least the Tomcat could pull off a good fight. even though the Tomcat won, it still had a helluva fight to go. respect to the Tomcat and the Skyhawk!

[AdrianNtart]

Wow! some wierd fat alien looking aircraft. i didnt knw the A4 was so old. out of those onlt the A4 continued. i cant believe how old these aircraft will be today! over 50 yrs! its amaizing how quickly jet aircraft evolved and boosted into production!

[biukucanoe]

F4D was slightly successful but overtaken by supersonic types. Cutlass was largely a flop. A4 skyhawk was Vietnam legend, still a good bomber today if you don't need V/STOL.

[biukucanoe]

Demon was a subsonic disappointment, but was the primary platform for sparrow missle until replaced by its derivative - the legendary F-4 Phantom.

[irondragsportster]

Good job! I've never seen footage of a straight deck carrier with mid-50's jet aircraft...Now I understand the bridal launch....Post more of this vintage footage if you got it!

[0138380834]

heart heart m

[hopper1]

Great video. My old man was in the USN at that time, but aboard a sub tender.

[kdraper2007]

Some one had to keep the SSN's and SS's supplied. they couldn't do their jobs if you old man didn't do his. REspect to your Dad for his service.

[nagmashdriver]

LOVE those nifty-fifties early jets! Thanks for posting this great video!